How Pastors Get Rich

[Major Nikon]

This article exposes the secret methods certain pastors use to get rich off God's people. Have you ever wondered how some pastors start a church and then become wealthy living in flash houses and driving luxury cars? Well this article exposes how they do it, extracting money from their congregations to fund their lifestyles. Here are the secrets they definitely do not want you to know.

Important Note: As you read please remember that very few pastors use the techniques you are about to discover. The great majority of Christian pastors do not earn much money even though they work hard at their jobs. Most Christian pastors would find these techniques repugnant. Please do not make the mistake of tarring the many good pastors with the brush reserved for the spiritually corrupt few.

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http://www.cultwatch.com/HowPastorsGetRich.html

[Journeyman]

1. "I knew in my heart by pure logic," Lenny Bruce explained, "that any man . . .

. . . any man who calls himself a religious leader and owns more than one suit is a hustler as long as there is someone in the world who has no suit at all."

Lenny Bruce, How to Talk Dirty and Influence People

[qanda]

2. My mother is a pastor and so I can attest to the fact that not all pastors do this

However, I have been in enough churches (my current church included) that use tithing as the be all and end all of being a true Christian. It's actually very sad how many people are manipulated into believing their lives are cursed because they don't give a certain amount to God. I could speak on this subject all day because I have been studying it for many years. There's a book called "Beyond Tithes and Offerings" by Michael & Mitchell Webb that I would recommend to anyone who has been brainwashed into believing this lie being perpetrated on church people.

[Major Nikon]

3. My dad was also

He was a part time pastor and treasurer of a small UU church, and we knew how much money was coming in and going out. I'm quite convinced that the vast majority of pastors aren't wealthy, however the article gives some good information on how churches and pastors can become scam artists. At some level, every church has to also be a business enterprise. It takes money to run a church, and from what I've seen of most churches big and small is they really push the concept of tithing, which the author points out is not really well supported by the bible. They also quite often go after the elderly and either promote the idea of paying their way into heaven, or don't do anything to discourage the idea.

[qanda]

4. +1

You hit the nail on the head. It's like they have to use a marketing scheme to stay afloat and the tithing shtick is the best option pastors have to get over on people and manipulate them into giving.

[MarkCharles]

5. This thread needs a good kick... back into discussion.

I am really tired of watching religious leaders get rich, just on general principles.

Most of what they sell is false promises, logical fallacies, and threats of damnation, all mixed in with a few fairy tales.

[Taverner]

6. Pretty much Joel Osteen's MO